Agency for Health Care Policy and Research: Part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the AHCPR provides practical, science-based information about medical care to health care providers.
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Consumers Site: AHCPR’s site for consumers.
American Association of Health Plans (AAHP): An industry association that supports managed-care health plans; site includes a consumer section with information on choosing health care plans and fact sheets on specific health topics.
American Council on Science and Health: Provides consumer education materials relating to food, chemicals, lifestyle, environment, and health.
American Medical Association (AMA): Provides information about recent medical news, consumer health information, and links to related sites; site also includes information about physicians, including their training, licensure, and board certification.
American Osteopathic Association (AOA): Provides information about osteopathic medicine and practitioners and consumer-oriented information on selected health topics.
Electronic Policy Network Idea Center/Health Policy Page: A "virtual" magazine with articles on managed care, the uninsured, the future of Medicare, and other issues.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Consumer Protection—Diet, Health, and Fitness: Includes online brochures about a variety of consumer health topics, including fitness equipment, generic drugs, and fraudulent health claims.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Virtual Health: Includes links to selected commercial health sites that provide reliable health information as well as tips for avoiding unscrupulous online marketers.
Report health fraud to the FTC online: Consumers can go this site to report fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.
Georgia Council Against Health Fraud: Healthcare Reality Check: Scientific information on alternative and complementary medicine and on how to avoid health quackery.
Health Care Financing Administration: Provides information, statistics, and other material on:
Medicare , Medicaid, and the
Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Healthfinder: Choosing Quality Care: Links to reliable online publications about choosing primary care providers, health insurance, hospitals, and medical treatments.
Healthscope: Presents tips for making sound health care decisions; some of the information is specific to California, but many of the general guidelines are applicable to all states.
National Coalition on Health Care: An advocacy group working to improve U.S. health care.
National Consumers League: Provides a variety of brochures on health-related topics, including health care and food and drug safety.
National Council for Reliable Health Information: Provides news and information about health fraud and quackery and links to related Web sites.
National Institutes of Health Consensus Program Information Center: Provides guidelines about evaluating and treating various medical conditions.
New England Journal of Medicine: The Health Care System Revisited: A series of articles examining key aspects the U.S. health care system and the debate over possible changes to the current system; all articles in the series are available online:
Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage
The Movement for Improved Quality in Health Care
NLM Medline Plus: A gateway that direct consumers to information that will help them research health questions; linked to the searchable Medline database of over 11 million citations and abstracts of articles from biomedical journals.
Quackwatch: Provides information on health fraud, quackery, and health decision making. This feature describes where to complain or seek help for possible health fraud or dangerous products; links to relevant agencies are provided.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Provides information on FDA consumer protection activities; helpful FDA sites include:
tips for avoiding health
fraud,
FDA Consumer magazine,
and the
FDA MedWatch program
for reporting adverse effects from products regulated by the FDA.
Washington Business Group on Health: An organization that analyzes national health policy and related worksite issues from the perspective of large employers.
Information About Physicians and Hospitals
American Board of Medical Specialties: Provides information about credentials of medical doctors.
American Medical Association (AMA) Doctor Finder: Provides information about physicians, including their training, licensure, and board certification.
Association of State Medical Board Executive Directors: DocFinder: Provides information about licensing from selected states.
Health Care Report Cards: Data and ratings on U.S. hospitals based on patient mortality for certain types of medical procedures.
Hospital Select: Provides basic information about many U.S. hospitals, including size, annual number of visits and surgeries, and services offered.
Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Alternative Health News Online: Provides a selection of Web pages on complementary and alternative medicine.
FDA Guide to Choosing Medical Treatments: Provides general criteria about how to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new treatment; lists some clinical trials now underway to test alternative treatments.
Healthfinder: Alternative Medicine: A gateway to consumer-oriented information on specific alternative therapies, sources of sound information, and tips for avoiding quackery and fraud.
NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): Provides general information packets, answers to frequently asked questions about alternative therapies, research abstracts, and bibliographies.
University of Texas Center for Alternative Medicine Research: Provides background information and a review of the scientific literature on selected alternative therapies used for cancer prevention and control.
Abstracts and/or citations of research studies on alternative therapies are available at the following sites:
National Library of Medicine: PubMed
See also the listings in Chapters 1 (general wellness), 21 (self-care), and Appendix C; links relating to dietary supplements are listed with Chapter 12 (nutrition).
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